The operator of the Channel rail link has asked a French court to close a refugee camp used by asylum seekers near the company's Sangatte terminal.
Eurotunnel said the camp contained a large numbers of asylum seekers "whose sole intention is to reach the UK and who trespass onto the terminal in ever-increasing numbers".
The camp comprises a Eurotunnel building that was requisitioned by the French authorities in September, 1999.
The company has now issued a writ in the administrative court in Lille, northern France, requesting that the requisition be annulled.
Eurotunnel said the writ underlined "the incompatibility of the requisition with the duty of the French state to ensure the security of the French terminal".
Last week, Eurotunnel applied for a judicial review in the UK High Court of the Home Office's proposed extension to its freight shuttle service of the £2,000 penalty per offender that can be imposed on companies whose transport modes are used by immigrants to enter the UK illegally.
PA